Native Plants

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Monday - July 07, 2008

From: DFW, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Vines
Title: Identification of prickly vine in north Texas
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

While trimming the shrubs around my suburban house I noticed (and my legs were torn up by!) a vine-like plant with small green serrated leaves and millions of small, very sharp thorns. I search Invasive Vines in the Q&A and Devils Club was the closest I found but the leaves of the devils club are to big and the vine in my yard doesn't have blooms. Any thoughts?

ANSWER:

Your description sounds like Rubus trivialis (southern dewberry). it does have nasty spines, but it also produces wonderful berries that are delicious to eat or make into pies or jams. The berrie should have been ripe in early to mid-June.

Other possibilities are one of the greenbriers, either Smilax bona-nox (saw greenbrier) or Smilax tamnoides (bristly greenbrier) with more info and photos, but neither of them have serrated leaves.